Upland’s Rachel Kline (second from right) celebrates with teammates after scoring in the second half to give the Highlanders a 2-0 lead Thursday as La Mirada’s Marissa Marquez (30) shows her disappointment during Thursday’s match. Upland eliminates La Mirada with a 2-0 win during a CIF Division 1 girls state soccer semi final match at Upland High School in Upland, Calif. Thursday March 8, 2017. (Photo by, Will Lester-Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

Upland’s Rachel Kline (second from right) celebrates after scoring in the second half to give the Highlanders a 2-0 lead Thursday. Upland eliminates La Mirada with a 2-0 win during a CIF Division 1 girls state soccer semi final match at Upland High School in Upland, Calif. Thursday March 8, 2017. (Photo by, Will Lester-Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

Upland’s Rachel Kline (21) scores past La Mirada goal keeper Sage Strohman (1) in the second half to give the Highlanders a 2-0 lead Thursday. Upland eliminates La Mirada with a 2-0 win during a CIF Division 1 girls state soccer semi final match at Upland High School in Upland, Calif. Thursday March 8, 2017. (Photo by, Will Lester-Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

Upland’s Marin Wheeldon (22) tries to score near the net as La Mirada’s Isabel Loza (11) and Emma Fraiser (9) defend during the second half Thursday. Upland eliminates La Mirada with a 2-0 win during a CIF Division 1 girls state soccer semi final match at Upland High School in Upland, Calif. Thursday March 8, 2017. (Photo by, Will Lester-Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

Upland’s Tiana Egland (center) is mobbed by teammates after scoring in the second half to give the Highlanders a 1-0 lead as La Mirada goal keeper Sage Strohman (1) shows her disappointment during Thursday’s match. Upland eliminates La Mirada with a 2-0 win during a CIF Division 1 girls state soccer semi final match at Upland High School in Upland, Calif. Thursday March 8, 2017. (Photo by, Will Lester-Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

Upland’s Tiana Egland (19) is mobbed by teammates after scoring in the second half to give the Highlanders a 1-0 lead over La Mirada during Thursday’s match. Upland eliminates La Mirada with a 2-0 win during a CIF Division 1 girls state soccer semi final match at Upland High School in Upland, Calif. Thursday March 8, 2017. (Photo by, Will Lester-Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

A group of Upland and La Mirada players battle over a header during Thursday’s match. Upland eliminates La Mirada with a 2-0 win during a CIF Division 1 girls state soccer semi final match at Upland High School in Upland, Calif. Thursday March 8, 2017. (Photo by, Will Lester-Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

La Mirada’s Megan Day (4) and Upland’s Tiana Egland (19) battle over a header during Thursday’s match. Upland eliminates La Mirada with a 2-0 win during a CIF Division 1 girls state soccer semi final match at Upland High School in Upland, Calif. Thursday March 8, 2017. (Photo by, Will Lester-Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

Upland’s Kay Pigoni (23) heads a ball during their match against La Mirada Thursday. Upland eliminates La Mirada with a 2-0 win during a CIF Division 1 girls state soccer semi final match at Upland High School in Upland, Calif. Thursday March 8, 2017. (Photo by, Will Lester-Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

Upland’s Marin Wheeldon (22) tries to score near the net as La Mirada’s Isabel Loza (11) defends during the second half Thursday. Upland eliminates La Mirada with a 2-0 win during a CIF Division 1 girls state soccer semi final match at Upland High School in Upland, Calif. Thursday March 8, 2017. (Photo by, Will Lester-Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

Upland’s Tiana Egland (far right) is mobbed by teammates after scoring in the second half to give the Highlanders a 1-0 lead as La Mirada’s Marissa Marquez (30) shows her disappointment during Thursday’s match. Upland eliminates La Mirada with a 2-0 win during a CIF Division 1 girls state soccer semi final match at Upland High School in Upland, Calif. Thursday March 8, 2017. (Photo by, Will Lester-Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)

UPLAND — The La Mirada High School girls soccer team has a habit of staying in games and hanging around because of a defense that had allowed 11 goals all season in reaching Thursday’s CIF State Southern California Regional Division I semifinals, and Upland coach Bo Whieldon knew this.

“We watched a lot of film on them and knew we would have to push through and get some goals,” Whieldon said.

After thoroughly dominating the opening half and coming up empty, the payoff finally came for the Highlanders.

Freshman Tiana Egland broke through and scored in the 44th minute and senior Rachel Kline provided the finishing goal in the closing minutes to lead Upland to a 2-0 victory and a berth to Saturday’s championship game against top seed JSerra, which advanced 4-2 in penalty kicks over Santa Margarita after the teams tied 1-1 in regulation.

There was never a moment that Upland (25-3-4) wasn’t in total control, and though he touted La Mirada’s defense, Whieldon knows his defense is pretty good, too.

“My defense has been solid all year,” Whieldon said. “We gave up only one goal in (the Baseline) league and went 10-0.”

Offensively, it was a clinic at times, and fans of Upland better get used to this because the Highlanders are a youthful team that gives four freshmen significant minutes along with several other underclassmen. It only has two senior starters.

And despite that youth, they were able to dictate terms with ease.

“We were able to move the ball more than I expected,” Whieldon said. “Our game plan was to move the ball side to side and try to work it in and it worked out for us. They had to press at the end and that’s how we got that last goal.”

Egland’s goal came off an assist from Petyon Dyer that she poked over Matadores goalkeeper Sage Strohman as she came out to challenge.

“(Dyer) flicked it on to me and I had to chest it down and flick it over,” Egland said. “It was really satisfying, it was for the team.”

Freshman Tiana Egland fights defenders off and flicks it in for the games opening goal in the 44th minute for a 1-0 Upland lead over La Mirada and the announcer is screaming goal like he loves Spanish television pic.twitter.com/h75YpgQKes

“Still, we stayed in the game and late in the game we pushed forward to try and equalize and they got another one. My kids battled all year long. We won games on pure will and I have no regrets. We got beat by a good team.

JSerra, which also won its second straight CIF Southern Section Division 1 title, will host the match on Saturday at 4 p.m.

“We played JSerra early in the season and tied them 0-0,” Whieldon said. “We know them pretty well because their coach is my daughters (sophomore Marin Whieldon) club coach and a lot of her teammates on on that team. We’ll be ready for it.”

Join the Conversation

We invite you to use our commenting platform to engage in insightful conversations about issues in our community. Although we do not pre-screen comments, we reserve the right at all times to remove any information or materials that are unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable to us, and to disclose any information necessary to satisfy the law, regulation, or government request. We might permanently block any user who abuses these conditions.

If you see comments that you find offensive, please use the “Flag as Inappropriate” feature by hovering over the right side of the post, and pulling down on the arrow that appears. Or, contact our editors by emailing moderator@scng.com.